Facilitating Consumer Payments And Redemptions Of Deal Offers

ABSTRACT

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable storage media for facilitating payments for consumer transactions and redemption of deal offerings. In providing such functionality, the system can be configured to, for example, receive payment for one or more products, determine a deal voucher&#39;s current value and cause the redemption of the deal voucher.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/661,291, entitled “FACILITATING CONSUMER PAYMENTS ANDREDEMPTIONS OF DEAL OFFERS”, filed on Jun. 18, 2012, the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to facilitating paymentsfor consumer transactions and redemption of deal offerings.

BACKGROUND

Merchants sell goods and services (collectively referred to herein as“products”) to consumers. The merchants can often control the form oftheir product offers, the timing of their product offers, and the priceat which the products will be offered. The merchant may sell products ata brick-and-mortar sales location, a virtual online site, or both.

Discounts have been used as part of some retail strategies. Discounttechniques include providing coupons and rebates to potential consumers,but these techniques have several disadvantages. In this regard, anumber of deficiencies and problems associated with the systems used to,among other things, provide and redeem discounts used by consumers havebeen identified. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, manyof these identified problems have been solved by developing solutionsthat are included in embodiments of the present invention, some examplesof which are described herein.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present invention provide hereinsystems, methods and computer readable storage media for facilitatingpayments for consumer transactions and redemption of deal offerings in asimple and user-friendly manner. Among other things, embodimentsdiscussed herein can be configured to aid merchants in processing largenumbers of payment transactions. In completing these paymenttransactions, merchants devices can be configured to determine whatdiscounts are available to a consumer and how each available discountaffects the transaction (e.g., how much money is the discount currentlyworth). Embodiments discussed herein can be configured to integrate thisand other functionality into a single device that facilitates theimplementation of various processes, which may run across one or morenetworks and utilize remote devices to complete a single paymenttransaction for a consumer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general terms,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for facilitating apayment for a transaction and a redemption of a deal offering inaccordance with some example embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 1A is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for handling paymentof a remaining amount due for a transaction and a redemption of a dealoffering in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for providing dealvoucher data during a transaction in accordance with some exampleembodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for updating a dealvoucher redemption status in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for providing paymenttransaction history in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for accessing atransaction configuration in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein;

FIGS. 6-23 show example graphical user interface displays that may bepresented by various components of systems or devices in accordance withsome example embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 24 shows an example system in accordance with some exampleembodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 25 shows a schematic block diagram of circuitry that can beincluded in a computing device, such as a merchant device, consumerdevice, and/or promotional system, in accordance with some exampleembodiments discussed herein;

FIGS. 26-27 are examples of data that may be stored to facilitateoperations in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for handling paymentof a remaining amount due for a transaction and redemption of a dealoffering in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein;and

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for processing apayment transaction in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, embodimentsof the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should notbe construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather,these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfyapplicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elementsthroughout.

As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similarterms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of beingcaptured, transmitted, received, displayed and/or stored in accordancewith various example embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms should notbe taken to limit the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Further, wherea computing device is described herein to receive data from anothercomputing device, it will be appreciated that the data may be receiveddirectly from the other computing device or may be received indirectlyvia one or more intermediary computing devices, such as, for example,one or more servers, relays, routers, network access points, basestations, and/or the like. Similarly, where a computing device isdescribed herein to send data to another computing device, it will beappreciated that the data may be sent directly to the another computingdevice or may be sent indirectly via one or more intermediary computingdevices, such as, for example, one or more servers, relays, routers,network access points, base stations, and/or the like.

FIGS. 6-23, detailed below, show example displays that may be presentedby one or more display screens of one or more machines, sometimesreferred to herein as “merchant devices,” in accordance with someembodiments discussed herein. For example, the displays of FIGS. 6-23can be presented to a merchant by a merchant device (such as a smartphone, tablet computer, etc.) and can aid in facilitating the paymentfor consumer transactions and redemption of a coupon and/or otherdiscount offer for a merchant's product, which are sometimes referred toherein as “deal vouchers” or, more simply, “vouchers.” Additionalexamples of merchant devices and consumer machines are discussed inconnection with FIGS. 24 and 25 below.

The displays of FIGS. 6-23 can be used to provide a relatively simple,quick, and intuitive way for the merchant to process a consumer'spayment transaction and redeem a consumer's voucher by using one or morethird party machines, such as a promotional system or a third-partysystem. Additional examples of the promotional system are discussed inconnection with FIGS. 24 and 25 below. Examples of more general systemsand processes that can be used to create deal vouchers by/for a merchantand then be bought and redeemed by a consumer are discussed incommonly-assigned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0313840,filed Mar. 17, 2011, titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING LOCATIONBASED DISCOUNT RETAILING,” which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary process, namely process 100, that may beexecuted by one or more machines (some examples of which are discussedin connection with FIGS. 24 and 25 below) to provide the displays ofFIGS. 6-23 discussed below, among others, in accordance with someexample embodiments discussed herein. Process 100 may start at 102 witha merchant user logging in to the system via a merchant device. Anexample process for logging into the system using the merchant device isshown and discussed in connection with, e.g., FIG. 5.

At 104, process 100 may present a Transaction Checkout Display on atouch-sensitive display screen of a device, such as a merchant device.One such example of the Transaction Checkout Display is provided bydisplay 600 of FIG. 6.

At 106, process 100 receives transaction data for a consumertransaction, such as one or more prices of products included in theconsumer transaction. For example, a user may input the transaction datausing, for example, a keypad, such as that shown in display 600 inembodiments where a touch-sensitive display screen is included in themerchant device. Additionally or alternatively, transaction data may bereceived using other means, such as scanning product codes with anoptical capture display, such as that shown in display 900 of FIG. 9. Insuch embodiments, transaction data can be derived from the barcodeand/or other product identifier based on information stored about theproduct remotely (such as in a networked database) and/or locally in themerchant device. After the transaction data is received, the display ofthe merchant device can be updated to show the price and/or othertransaction data (including, for example, product identifyinginformation) as shown in display 800 of FIG. 8.

After completing the entry of transaction data, a determination can bemade at 108 as to whether a deal offer is to be redeemed as part of thetransaction. For example, the merchant device can be configured todetermine whether a deal offer is to be redeemed based on whether anindication of a selection of button 802 of display 800 was received.Upon the indication to redeem a deal offer at 108, such as by selectionof button 802 being received by the processor of the merchant device,process 100 transfers at 110 to the display of an Optical CaptureDisplay, such as shown by display 900 of FIG. 9.

At 112, process 100 may capture a machine readable code from a voucherfor the deal offer. If at 112 process 100 is unable to capture a machinereadable code from a voucher or if an indication is received that a userwould like to manually input voucher identifier data at 114 by, forexample, selecting button 902 (“Manual”) of display 900.

At 114, process 100 may wait for a user to manually input the voucheridentifier data. A user may input the voucher identifier data using adisplay on the touch-sensitive display screen of the merchant deviceusing a display such as that shown by display 1000 of FIG. 10. Adetermination can be made that the voucher identifier data is completebased on, for example, the merchant device being configured to identifythe end of the voucher identifier data automatically and/or in responseto receiving an indication of a user selection of a button, such asbutton 1002 of display 1000.

At 116, the merchant device can be configured to transmit the voucheridentifier data to a remote system, such as promotional system 2402shown in FIG. 24, to retrieve voucher data, and receive additionalvoucher data from a remote system. The voucher data may include amonetary discount value currently associated with the deal voucher thatmay be used in conjunction with the current transaction. Display 1100 ofFIG. 11 shows one example display of a monetary discount value currentlyassociated with the deal voucher. The monetary discount value currentlyassociated with the deal voucher may be less than a discount valuepreviously associated with the deal voucher, or it may be greater than adiscount value to be associated with the deal voucher in the future. Forexample, the monetary discount value may be the full face value discountof the deal voucher if the transaction is occurring during a time periodwhen the deal offer is in force, e.g., the deal voucher time period hasnot expired. As another example, the monetary discount value may be areduced value discount of the deal voucher based on the full deal valueif the transaction is occurring during a time period when the deal offeris not in force, e.g., the deal voucher is expired or the deal offertime period has not begun.

At 118, the monetary discount value can be applied to the transaction.For example, the monetary discount value received from the remote systemcan be included in the transaction data display presented by themerchant device. In some embodiments, a user may be provided theopportunity to indicate whether the voucher monetary discount valueshould be applied to this transaction. For example, button 1102(“Apply”) of display 1100 may be presented and, in response to button1102 being selected, the voucher monetary discount value is applied tothe current transaction by the merchant device by subtracting themonetary discount value from the product price or transaction total andthen updating the transaction data display, such as shown by display1200 of FIG. 12. The merchant device may then return to the TransactionCalculator Display, as shown by display 1300 of FIG. 13, by a userselecting button 804 (“$”) of display 1200.

Process 100 may proceed to 120 after 118 and/or after determining at 108to proceed without redeeming a deal offer at this time. For example, adetermination can be made at 108 to proceed directly to 120 in responseto receiving an indication of a user selection of button 804 (“$”) ofdisplay 800 (instead of button 802).

At 120, while presenting display 800 or 1300, for example, the merchantdevice may receive an indication to continue with the paymenttransaction, such as by a user selecting button 804. Upon a userselecting button 804, the merchant device can be configured to present apayment tender selection display, such as display 1400 of FIG. 14.

At 122, process 100 may wait for an indication of a payment tender typeto use for the current transaction. A user may indicate the paymenttender type by selecting a tender option, such as those shown by display1400. While display 1400 only shows two tender types, “Card Number” (forcredit card payment) and “Cash,” the payment tender types may be anytype of payment tender, such as cash, credit card, bank draft,electronic check, wire transfer, third party electronic payment services(e.g., PayPal®, etc.), other types of credit or payment services, and/orany other means for conveying value in exchange for the product. In someembodiments, a consumer may also select to have a payment processed bythe remote system providing the voucher data, such as promotional system2400. Such an embodiment will be further described with regard to FIG.1B below.

If, at 122, a user selects “Cash,” process 100 may continue to 124 wheremerchant device may display a cash tender display, such as display 1500of FIG. 15, and may wait to receive input of cash tender data. A usermay indicate the cash tender amount by using a display, such as display1500, on a touch-sensitive display screen. A user may indicate that thecash payment tender is complete by, for example, selecting button 1502(“Tender”) of display 1500. Upon the merchant device receiving the inputfrom the selection of button 1502, process 100 may continue to 126 tosettle the payment tender (e.g., receive cash in exchange for theproduct(s) being purchased).

If, at 122, a user selects “Card Number” or another alternative form ofpayment presented in display 1400, which may involve communicating witha remote device and/or receiving an account number or other identifyinginformation of the consumer, process 100 may continue to 128 where themerchant device may present an appropriate display. To avoid overcomplicating the discussion, an example set of displays based on creditcards is shown in the drawings and described herein, but similarfunctionality can be provided in connection with any suitable form ofpayment without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Display 1600 of FIG. 16 is an example credit card tender display thatcan be presented at 128 and used to facilitate the reception of creditcard data, such as the credit card account number. The credit card datamay be received by the merchant device using a magnetic strip reader,near field communication technology, a user manually entering it, and/orby any other suitable means of conveying date. For example, a user maytype the credit card number in using the keypad included in display1600. As another example, a user may swipe a credit card at the merchantdevice after which the merchant device can be configured to display thecredit card tender display, such as display 1600. A user may indicatethat the credit card payment tender is complete by, for example,selecting button 1602 (“Continue”) of display 1600.

Upon the merchant device receiving the input from the selection ofbutton 1602, process 100 continues to 130 in some embodiments. At 130,the system can be configured to determine whether an applicable dealvoucher offer is associated with the form of payment being used at theparticular merchant. For example, a consumer may have a purchased a dealvoucher using the same credit card account number tendered to themerchant device. In some embodiments, the system may determine whether aconsumer has purchased an applicable deal voucher using the consumer'scredit card account number if no voucher was indicated for redemption atoperation 108 above. In some embodiments, the system may determinewhether a consumer has purchased an applicable deal voucher using theconsumer's credit card account number even if a deal voucher wasredeemed at operation 108, such as if a consumer has purchased more thanone deal voucher that may be applicable to the transaction. In additionto or instead of transmitting the credit card account number to thecredit card company machine(s), the credit card account number can betransmitted to one or more promotional machines to determine if thecredit card tendered to the merchant was used to purchase a deal voucherthat was not presented to the merchant earlier in the process. In someembodiments, merchant identifying data (such as an internet protocoladdress, merchant identifying number, etc.), product identifying dataand/or any other transaction data (such as time of day, total cost ofproducts being purchased, tax information, etc.) can be transmittedalong with the credit card account number to the one or more promotionalmachines to aid in determining whether the credit card tendered to themerchant was used to purchase an applicable deal voucher. For example,some deal vouchers may be specific to particular transactions.

In some embodiments, the functionality of 130 may only be implemented inresponse to determining at 108 the consumer has not presented a dealoffer voucher to the merchant to be redeemed. In other embodiments, thefunctionality of 130 may be omitted from process 100 altogether. In thisregard, one or more steps and/or functionalities discussed herein can bereordered, omitted, combined and/or otherwise modified or omittedaltogether.

In response to determining at 130 that there is an applicable dealvoucher available for the consumer to use for this particulartransaction, the deal voucher monetary value can be applied at 132 andthe transaction display can be updated. For example, displays 1100, 1200and 1300 can be presented as discussed herein.

In addition to or instead of determining whether an applicable deal waspreviously purchased by the consumer, a determination can be made byprocess 100 as to whether there is an applicable deal offer beingmarketed by the promotional system and/or merchant that the consumer hasnot yet purchased. In such instances, the consumer may be provided anoption to purchase and/or otherwise redeem the available, applicablepreviously-unknown deal offer at the merchant device. For example, if aGroupon® deal is being offered online that is applicable to what theconsumer is currently purchasing from the merchant, the consumer may beprovided the opportunity to purchase the deal at the merchant's deviceduring the point-of-sale, even if the consumer did not otherwise know ofthe deal being offered online. In some embodiments, like otherfunctionality discussed herein, the merchant may be provided one or moreconfiguration settings that can be used to enable and/or disable thepoint-of-sale deal offer functionality, which can be used to controlwhether the consumer can learn of such applicable previously-unknowndeal offers while using the merchant device as a point-of-sale machine.

After 132, in response to determining at 130 that there is no dealvoucher associated with the credit card, after 128 in embodiments thatomit 130 and 132, and/or after determining there is nopreviously-unknown deal offers, merchant device may provide anauthorization display at 134, such as display 1700 of FIG. 17, that canbe configured to receive consumer authorization that may be needed tosettle the payment with the third party.

At 126, merchant device may receive a consumer authorization bycapturing, for example, a consumer signature on the display, such asshown by display 1800 or FIG. 18. After receiving a consumerauthorization, process 100 may settle the payment tender. For otherpayment tender types, operations similar to the cash tender and creditcard tender described above, or additional operations, may be completedas appropriate. For example, at 126, process 100 completes the paymenttender process by communicating with a third-party system to finalizethe payment tender and settle the transaction by transmitting a finalamount.

At 138, process 100 may transmit a data signal to a remote system, suchas promotional system 2402, to indicate that the voucher has beenredeemed. At 138, process 100 may cause one or more databases to beupdated to indicate that the voucher has been redeemed. The databasesmay be maintained by, for example, the promotional system.

At 140, process 100 may wait for an indication to send an email receiptto the consumer and the merchant device may display a receipt requestdisplay, such as display screen 1900 of FIG. 19. A user may indicatethat a receipt should be emailed by selecting an email address entryfield, such as field 1902. Upon a user indicating that an email receiptshould be generated, merchant device may display an email entry display,such as display 2000 of FIG. 20.

At 142, process 100 may receive a consumer email address by a userentering an email address on a display such as displays 2000 and 2100. Auser may begin to enter an email address and the display may be updatedto suggest previous and/or otherwise known entries for a user to select,as shown in displays 2000 and 2100. Upon a user completing entry of anemail address (or selecting a suggested address), the merchant devicemay display an email confirmation display, such as display 2200 of FIG.22. In some embodiments, the consumer's email address or addresses maybe downloaded from the promotional system and/or otherwise determinedbased on an associated with the deal voucher that is being redeemed.

At 144, the merchant device may receive an indication to generate andsend the receipt email. For example, a user may indicate that the emailshould be sent by selecting button 2202 (“Send Receipt”) of display2200. After the receipt email has been transmitted, merchant device maydisplay a transaction confirmation display, such as display 2300 of FIG.23. Process 100 then ends at 146.

If at 140, process 100 receives an indication that a receipt emailshould not be sent, process 100 ends at 146. Process 100 may also end at146 in response to determining the receipt is not to be emailed (and,for example, printed instead).

In some embodiments, once the voucher monetary discount value has beenapplied to the current transaction (such as at 118 of FIG. 1), anyremaining amount due on the transaction may be settled using one or morepayment methods, as illustrated by FIGS. 1, 1A, and 28. In someembodiments, the remaining amount due for the current transaction may besettled by the remote system providing the voucher data, by a paymenttransaction processed through the merchant device and a third party suchas a payments processor (e.g., a credit card transaction), by anin-person transaction with a consumer (e.g. a cash transaction), or thelike.

In some embodiments, the merchant device may provide a means for a userto select one of several payment methods including processing a paymentthrough the promotional system 2402/voucher only payment, a cashpayment, a credit or debit card payment transaction, etc., such as byproviding a display 1400 at the merchant device, and as illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 1A.

In an example embodiment, after the monetary discount value is appliedto the transaction at 118 of FIG. 1, the merchant device may receive anindication to continue with the payment transaction, such as by a userselecting button 804. Upon a user selecting button 804, the merchantdevice can be configured to present a payment tender selection displayat 120, such as display 1400 of FIG. 14. The payment tender selectiondisplay may present the user with payment tender options includingprocessing a payment through the promotional system 2402/voucher only,processing a payment as a credit card or debit card transaction (e.g.,using a third-party payment processor, for example), processing a cashpayment transaction, or the like. In some embodiments, once anindication of a payment tender type has been provided at 122 of FIG. 1,the system may determine that the tender type “None/Voucher Only” wasselected and processing may continue to 150 of FIG. 1A. At 150, themerchant device may transmit the voucher identifier data to a remotesystem, such as promotional system 2402 shown in FIG. 24. Alternatively,in some embodiments, the merchant device may transmit an indication tothe remote system that the remote system should process the paymenttransaction by using the voucher identifier previously transmitted, suchas described in regard to 116 of FIG. 1. The process may continue to 152where the merchant device may transmit the remaining amount due topromotional system 2402. The promotional system 2402 may process apayment for the remaining amount due using a consumer's payment methodstored in the promotional system 2402, such as the payment method usedto purchase the original voucher or a payment method stored by theconsumer in a consumer profile at the promotional system 2402, forexample, and as described with regard to FIG. 29 below. At 154, themerchant device may receive an indication from the promotional system2402 that the payment has been completed and processing may return to126 of FIG. 1 where the merchant device may indicate that thetransaction has been settled and process 100 may continue.

In some embodiments, when the payment for the remaining amount due issettled by the remote system, such as promotional system 2402, thepromotional system 2402 may credit an account associated with themerchant for the settled amount, or for the settled amount less one ormore processing fees.

According to one example, a user may complete a transaction having atotal value of $30.00 and the promotional system may indicate that thesubmitted voucher has a voucher monetary discount value of $20.00. Themerchant device may then apply the $20.00 voucher monetary discountvalue to the $30.00 current transaction, leaving a remaining amount dueof $10.00. The merchant device may then transmit the remaining amountdue value of $10.00 to the promotional system and the promotional systemmay process a payment of $10.00 using the consumer's credit cardinformation on file in the promotional system and then transmit anindication to the merchant device that the payment has been completed.

In some embodiments, if a voucher was applied to the transaction, thepayment transaction for the remaining amount due may be automaticallytransmitted to the remote system, such as promotional system 2402, forprocessing, as illustrated in FIG. 28. Many of the operationsillustrated in FIG. 28 are identical to the operations described inregard to FIG. 1 above, and as such, these operations will not bedescribed in detail in regard to FIG. 28.

FIG. 28 shows an exemplary process, namely process 2800, which may beexecuted by one or more machines for facilitating payment of a remainingamount due for a transaction and redemption of a deal offering. Process2800 may start at 2802 with a merchant user logging in to the system viaa merchant device. At 2804, process 2800 may present a TransactionCheckout Display on a touch-sensitive display screen of a device, suchas a merchant device. At 2806, process 2800 receives transaction datafor a consumer transaction, such as one or more prices of productsincluded in the consumer transaction.

After completing the entry of transaction data, a determination can bemade at 2808 as to whether a deal offer is to be redeemed as part of thetransaction. Upon the indication to redeem a deal offer at 2808 (Yesbranch of 2808), process 2808 may switch at 2810 to the display of anOptical Capture Display, such as shown by display 900 of FIG. 9. At2812, process 2800 may capture a machine readable code from a voucherfor the deal offer. If at 2812 process 2800 is unable to capture amachine readable code from a voucher or if an indication is receivedthat a user would like to manually input voucher identifier data at 2814by, for example, selecting button 902 (“Manual”) of display 900. Adetermination can be made that the voucher identifier data is completebased on, for example, the merchant device being configured to identifythe end of the voucher identifier data automatically and/or in responseto receiving an indication of a user selection of a button, such asbutton 1002 of display 1000.

At 2816, the merchant device can be configured to transmit the voucheridentifier data to a remote system, such as promotional system 2402shown in FIG. 24, to retrieve voucher data, and receive additionalvoucher data from a remote system. The voucher data may include amonetary discount value currently associated with the deal voucher thatmay be used in conjunction with the current transaction. At 2818, themonetary discount value can be applied to the transaction. For example,the monetary discount value received from the remote system can beincluded in the transaction data display presented by the merchantdevice.

After the monetary discount value is applied to the transaction at 2818,the merchant device may transmit the remaining amount due may for thetransaction to a remote system, such as promotional system 2402, at2848. At 2850, the merchant device may receive an indication from thepromotional system 2402 regarding the status of the payment for theremaining amount due. If at 2850, an indication is received that thepayment was settled (e.g., the payment for the remaining amount wascharged to the consumer), process 2800 may continue to 2826 where themerchant device settles the current transaction. If at 2850, anindication is received that the payment was not settled (e.g., thepayment account information could not be processed by promotional system2400), process 2800 may continue to 2820 where the merchant device themerchant device may prompt for an input of payment tender data tocomplete the transaction.

Alternatively, is a determination is made at 2808 that no deal offer isto be redeemed as part of the transaction, process 2800 may continue to2820 where the merchant device may be configured to present a paymenttender selection display. At 2820, the merchant device may receive anindication of a payment tender type. At 2822 the merchant device maymake a determination of the tender type and determine how to proceedwith payment of the transaction.

If, at 2822, an indication is received for a cash tender, process 2800may continue to 2824 where merchant device may receive input of cashtender data. Upon the merchant device receiving the input of the cashtender data, process 2800 may continue to 2826 to settle the paymenttender for the current transaction.

If, at 2822, an indication is received for a credit/debit card tender(or a similar type of credit payment tender), process 2800 may continueto 2828 where the merchant device may present an appropriate display. At2828, the merchant device may receive the credit/debit card data fromthe consumer and transmit it to a card processor for authorization andsettlement, for example. In some embodiments, at 2828, process 2800 mayalso transmit the credit/debit card data to the promotional system 2400to determine if there is an available deal voucher associated with theconsumer's credit/debit card. For example, a consumer may have apurchased a deal voucher using the same credit card account numbertendered to the merchant device which is applicable to the currenttransaction but was not presented to the merchant at operation 2808. At2830, the system may be configured to determine whether an applicabledeal voucher offer is associated with the payment account (e.g., creditcard) being used at the particular merchant.

In response to determining at 2830 that there is an applicable dealvoucher available for the consumer to use for this particulartransaction, the deal voucher monetary value can be applied at 2832 andthe transaction display can be updated and process 2800 may continue to2834. If, at 2830, it is determined that there is not an applicable dealvoucher available, process 2800 may continue to 2834. At 2834, themerchant device may receive any consumer authorization that may beneeded to settle the payment, such as a signature or the like.

At 2826, process 2800 may settle the payment tender. At 2838, process2800 may transmit a data signal to a remote system, such as promotionalsystem 2402, to indicate that the voucher has been redeemed.

At 2840, process 2800 may wait to receive an indication of whether anemail receipt should be sent to the consumer. If, at 2840, process 2800receives an indication that a receipt email should not be sent, process2800 ends at 2846. If, at 2840, process 2800 receives an indication thata receipt email should be sent to the consumer, process 2800 may receivea consumer email address at 2842. At 2844, the merchant device mayreceive an indication to generate and send the receipt email. After thereceipt email has been transmitted, process 2800 then ends at 2846.

FIG. 29 shows an exemplary process, namely process 2900, which may beexecuted by one or more systems for processing a payment at a remotesystem using voucher data to facilitate a transaction in accordance withsome example embodiments discussed herein. Process 2900 may start at2902 by a system, such as promotional system 2402, receiving voucheridentifier data from a merchant device (such as at 150 of FIG. 1A).

At 2904, process 2900 retrieves voucher data from one or more databasesbased on the identifier data received from the merchant device. At 2906,process 2900 may determine the payment account that was used to purchasethe voucher, such as a consumer's credit or debit card.

At 2906, process 2900 may receive the remaining amount due from themerchant device (such as from 152 of FIG. 1A). At 2910, process 2900 mayprocess a payment transaction against the consumer payment account(e.g., consumer credit/debit card) for the remaining amount due.

At 2912, process 2900 may transmit an indication to the merchant devicethat the payment has been settled. In some embodiments, the system, suchas promotional system 2900, may credit a merchant's account for theamount of the payment transaction, or may credit a merchant's accountfor the amount of the payment transaction less a processing fee.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary process, namely process 200, which may beexecuted by one or more systems for retrieving deal voucher data tofacilitate a transaction in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein. Process 200 may start at 202 by a system, such aspromotional system 2402, receiving voucher identifier data from amerchant device (such as at 116 of process 100 of FIG. 1).

At 204, process 200 retrieves voucher data from one or more databasesbased on the identifier data received from the merchant device.

At 206, process 200 may determine voucher value data using the retrievedvoucher data. Voucher value data may comprise a validity status and amonetary discount value for the identified voucher. Voucher value datamay be determined by comparing the current day, date, and/or time with avalidity period in the voucher data and based on this comparisondetermine what the current monetary discount value is for the identifiedvoucher from value information in the voucher data.

At 208, process 200 may transmit the voucher value data to the merchantdevice to facilitate the transaction. In an alternative embodiment,process 200 may receive identifier data comprising merchant identifierdata and a consumer credit card number, rather than voucher identifierdata, and use this identifier data to retrieve the voucher data from oneor more databases.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary process, namely process 300, which may beexecuted by one or more systems for updating deal voucher data tofacilitate a transaction in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein. Process 300 may start at 302 by a system, such aspromotional system 2402, receiving a voucher redemption notificationfrom a merchant device (such as at 136 of process 100 of FIG. 1). Thevoucher redemption notification may comprise at least one or more ofvoucher identifier data, redemption date and/or time data, andredemption value data. At 304, process 300 retrieves voucher data fromone or more databases based on the voucher redemption notificationreceived from the merchant device. At 306, process 300 updates one ormore databases as appropriate to record that the voucher was redeemed(such as at 138 of process 100 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary process, namely process 400, which may beexecuted by one or more systems to provide updating payment andredemption transaction history in accordance with some exampleembodiments discussed herein. Process 400 may start at 402 with amerchant user logging in on a merchant device.

At 404, process 400 may present a Transaction Checkout Display on atouch-sensitive display screen of a device, such as a merchant device.One such example of the Transaction Checkout Display is provided bydisplay 600 of FIG. 6.

At 406, process 400 may receive an indication from a user to display amenu, such as by a user selecting button 602 (“Menu”) of display 600 ona touch-sensitive display screen of the merchant device. Upon receivingan indication that button 602 was selected, merchant device may presenta Menu display, such as display 700 of FIG. 7.

At 408, process 400 may receive an indication from a user to displaytransaction history for a merchant account, such as by a user selecting“Transaction History” from the menu listing of display 700 on atouch-sensitive display screen of the merchant device. At 410, process400 may retrieve a listing of recent transactions completed on themerchant account to be displayed on the merchant device.

At 412, process 400 may receive an indication that a user wants tosearch for a particular transaction using card identifier data, such asdata associated with a consumer's credit card. At 414, process 400 mayreceive card identifier data. At 416, process 400 may retrieve a listinga merchant transactions that are associated with the card identifierdata to be displayed on the merchant device. In some embodiments, otherdata may be used as the search query, such as consumer name, address,date of purchase, location of purchase, and/or any other informationthat may be stored locally and/or remotely associated with thetransaction, promotional system and/or deal offers.

At 418, process 400 may receive a selection of a particular transactionfrom, for example, the listing display provided at 410 or from thelisting display provided at 416. The merchant device may display thetransaction details for the selected transaction.

At 420, process 400 may receive an indication that the transactionselected at 418 should be reversed, thereby facilitating a paymentrefund to the consumer in any suitable manner. Process 400 ends at 422.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary process, namely process 500, which may beexecuted by one or more systems to provide access to a payment andredemption application in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein. Process 500 may start at 502 with a merchant userselecting to activate the payment and redemption application on amerchant device. At 504, process 500 may receive user identificationdata on a touch-sensitive display screen of the merchant device, anddetermine zero or more merchant centers for which the useridentification data is authorized. At 506, in response to determiningthe user identification data is authorized for one or more merchantcenters, process 500 may display a listing of the authorized merchantcenters. A user may select a merchant center from the listing which isto be used for facilitating payment and redemption transactions. At 508,process 500 may present a Transaction Checkout Display, such as display600 of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 6-23 show example displays that may be presented by one or moredisplay screens of one or more merchant devices in accordance with someembodiments discussed herein. The displays of FIGS. 6-23 can be used toprovide a relatively simple, quick, and intuitive way for the merchantto process a consumer's payment transaction and redeem a consumer'svoucher by using one or more third party machines, such as a promotionalsystem or a third-party system.

Although the displays of FIGS. 6-23 are shown as being optimized for atouch-sensitive device, the functionality discussed in connection withthe displays of FIGS. 6-23 may be provided by one or more machineshaving any suitable display screen in accordance with embodimentsdiscussed herein. For example, the display may be provided by a machinethat has a non-touch-sensitive display and a mouse and/or other inputcomponent (such as, e.g., a touch pad, keyboard, camera, etc.).

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary presentation of a Transaction Checkout Displayin accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein. Display600 may be presented to a user upon launching a payment and redemptionapplication as described in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein. Display 600 may provide a user interface for amerchant device to receive transaction data to facilitate payment andredemption. Button 602 (“Menu”) may provide an indication for a merchantdevice to display a menu display, such as display 700 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary presentation of a Menu Display in accordancewith some example embodiments discussed herein. Display 700 may bepresented to a user upon providing an indication, such as selectingbutton 602 on display 600. Display 700 may provide a user interface fora user to select from several submenus. Some example menu selections mayinclude “Payments” to return to the Transaction Checkout Display ofdisplay 600; “Transaction History” to provide access to a listing ofrecent transactions on a merchant account; “Featured Deals” to provideaccess to a listing of past, current, or future deal offers associatedwith a merchant (although, in some embodiments, managed and marketed byan independent promotional system); “Now! Deals” to provide access to alisting of past, current, or future Now! Deal offers associated with amerchant; “Settings” to provide access to settings to be used within theapplication.

Button 602 (“Menu”) may provide an indication for a merchant device todisplay a menu display, such as display 700 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 shows another exemplary presentation of a Transaction CheckoutDisplay in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein.Display 800 shows a display of current transaction data that has beenentered on the merchant device. Button 802 may provide for an indicationthat a user wishes to enter deal voucher data to be used in conjunctionwith the current transaction. Selection of Button 802 may cause themerchant device to provide an Optical Capture Display, such as display900 of FIG. 9. Button 804 may provide for an indication that a user hascompleted entering transaction data and wishes to switch to a PaymentTender Display, such as display 1400 of FIG. 14.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary presentation of an Optical Capture Display inaccordance with some example embodiments discussed herein. Display 900may be presented by a merchant device upon receiving an indication, suchas selection of button 802 on display 800. Display 900 may provide auser interface for a user to capture voucher identification data usingoptical scanning capabilities of the merchant device. The capture ofvoucher identification data may cause the merchant device to receivevoucher value data in accordance with some example embodiments discussedherein. Additionally, display 900 may provide for a user to indicate adesire to manually input voucher identification data, such as byselecting button 902. Selection of button 902 may cause the merchantdevice to display a Manual Input Display, such as display 1000 of FIG.10.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary presentation of a Manual Voucher InputDisplay in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein.Display 1000 may be presented by a merchant device upon receiving anindication, such as selection of button 902 on display 900, that a userwishes to manually input voucher identification data. A user mayindicate the completion of input of voucher identification data byselecting button 1002. Selection of button 1002 may cause the merchantdevice to receive voucher value data in accordance with some exampleembodiments discussed herein.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary presentation of a Voucher Value Display inaccordance with some example embodiments discussed herein. Display 1100may be presented by a merchant device after capturing and/or otherwisereceiving voucher identification data, and receiving and/or otherwisedetermining voucher value data from a remote system, such as promotionalsystem 2402. Display 1100 may provide means for a merchant device toreceive an indication to apply the received monetary discount value forthe voucher to the current transaction, such as by selection of button1102.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary presentation of an Updated Transaction DataDisplay in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein.Display 1200 may be presented by a merchant device upon indication thatthe monetary discount value of a voucher should be applied, such as byselection of button 1102. On display 1200, the merchant device maypresent one or more details of the current transaction including anupdated transaction total after applying the monetary discount value ofa voucher. The selection of button 804 indicates that the merchantdevice should return to the Transaction Checkout Display, such as shownby display 1300 of FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 shows a further exemplary presentation of the TransactionCheckout Display in accordance with some example embodiments discussedherein. Display 1300 may be presented upon a merchant device completingthe updating of transaction data after applying a voucher value to thetransaction. Display 1300 provides the current transaction total as wellas an indication, such as by icon 1302, that voucher value has beenapplied to the current transaction. The selection of button 804indicates that the merchant device should present a Payment TenderSelection Display, such as display 1400 of FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 shows a further exemplary presentation of the Payment TenderSelection Display in accordance with some example embodiments discussedherein. Display 1400 may be presented by a merchant device uponindication that a transaction is complete and payment is being tendered,such as by selection of button 804. Display 1400 provides for anindication of the type of tender that is being presented by a consumer.Tender types may include any type of payment method, such as cash,credit card, bank draft, electronic payment service (e.g. PayPal®), etc.The selection of a choice from the tender type listing, or swiping of acredit card using the capabilities of the merchant device, indicatesthat the merchant device should present a Payment Tender Display, suchas one of display 1500 of FIG. 15 or display 1600 of FIG. 16.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show exemplary presentations of the Payment TenderDisplays in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein.Displays 1500 and 1600 provide interfaces for a merchant to receive theappropriate payment tender data, as necessary, to facilitate thesettlement of a payment transaction. Buttons 1502 and 1602 provide anindication to the merchant device that the payment tender data iscomplete and the merchant device should perform appropriate operation tocomplete the payment transaction.

FIGS. 17 and 18 show exemplary presentations of the ConsumerAuthorization Displays in accordance with some example embodimentsdiscussed herein. Displays 1700 and 1800 provide examples of one processfor receiving a consumer authorization by capturing a consumer'ssignature.

FIGS. 19-23 show exemplary presentations of the Email Receipt Displaysin accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein. Displays1900-2200 provide for an indication that a receipt email should begenerated and sent to a consumers email address. Selection of field 1902provides for an indication that a receipt email should be sent,selection of button 1904 provides for an indication that a receipt emailshould not be sent. Selection of field 1902 may initiate an emailaddress input process as shown by display 2000 and 2100 of FIGS. 20 and21, respectively. A user may begin to input an email address and thedisplay may provide suggestions based on the input string and/or aconsumer profile stored locally at the merchant device and/or remotely(e.g., in a merchant database, credit card company database, bankdatabase, promotional system database, etc.). A user may continue toinput a complete email address or select one of the presentedsuggestions. Completion of the email address or selection of asuggestion may cause the merchant device to present display 2200 of FIG.22 to allow for an indication that the receipt email should be sent,such as by selection of button 2202. Merchant device may then presentdisplay 2300 of FIG. 23 confirming that the transaction is complete andthe receipt email has been sent.

FIG. 24 shows system 2400 including an example network architecture fora retailing system, which may include one or more devices andsub-systems that are configured to implement some embodiments discussedherein. For example, system 2400 may include promotional system 2402,which can include, for example, promotional server 2404 and promotionaldatabase 2406, among other things (not shown). Promotional server 2404can be any suitable network server and/or other type of processingdevice. Promotional database 2406 can be any suitable network databaseconfigured to store merchant and user data, deal offering data, dealvoucher data, transaction data and/or redemption data, such as thatdiscussed herein. In this regard, system 2402 may include, for example,at least one backend data server, network database, cloud computingdevice, among other things.

Promotional system 2402 can be coupled to one or more merchant devices2410A-2410N via network 2408. In this regard, network 2408 may includeany wired or wireless communication network including, for example, awired or wireless local area network (LAN), personal area network (PAN),metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), or the like,as well as any hardware, software and/or firmware required to implementit (such as, e.g., network routers, etc.). For example, network 2408 mayinclude a cellular telephone, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, and/or WiMaxnetwork. Further, the network 2408 may include a public network, such asthe Internet, a private network, such as an intranet, or combinationsthereof, and may utilize a variety of networking protocols now availableor later developed including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networkingprotocols.

Merchant devices 2410A-2410N may each be implemented as a personalcomputer and/or other networked device, such as a cellular phone, tabletcomputer, mobile device, etc., that may be used for any suitable purposein addition to buying deals and/or offering deals for sale. Thedepiction in FIG. 24 of “N” merchants is merely for illustrationpurposes. System 2400 may also include at least one 3rd party system2412, among other things.

The contemplated methods, systems and apparatuses, such as described inregard to FIGS. 1-24 above, may allow for improved analytics of merchantand consumer trends and behaviors. Through the coordinated processing ofdeal voucher redemptions and payment transactions, a promotional systemand/or merchant systems are able to gather greater and more detaileddata on merchant and/or consumer behaviors and preferences and therelationships between a consumer's purchasing transactions and thepurchase and redemption of deal offers. The enhanced data capturing mayprovide valuable improvements in the generation and marketing of dealoffers in a promotional system and/or merchant system, such as enablingbetter targeting of promotions or offers and faster responses toemerging purchasing trends. This enhanced data collection and analysismay include data such as the value and/or level of transactions whendeal vouchers are redeemed, differences in purchasing and paymentbehaviors when deal offers are or are not available; changes in timingfor payments and deal redemptions, behaviors and preferences forparticular consumers in relation to particular merchants or categoriesof merchants, and various other types of data related to consumerpurchasing behavior.

FIG. 25 shows a schematic block diagram of circuitry 2500, some or allof which may be included in, for example, promotional system 2402,and/or merchant devices 2410A-2410N. As illustrated in FIG. 25, inaccordance with some example embodiments, circuitry 2500 can includesvarious means, such as one or more processors 2502, memories 2504,communications modules 2506, and/or input/output modules 2508. In someembodiments, such as when circuitry 2500 is included in merchant devices2410A-2410N and/or promotional system 2402, payment/redemption module2510 may also or instead be included. As referred to herein, “module”includes hardware, software and/or firmware configured to perform one ormore particular functions. In this regard, the means of circuitry 2500as described herein may be embodied as, for example, circuitry, hardwareelements (e.g., a suitably programmed processor, combinational logiccircuit, and/or the like), a computer program product comprisingcomputer-readable program instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium (e.g., memory 2504) that is executable by asuitably configured processing device (e.g., processor 2502), or somecombination thereof.

Processor 2502 may, for example, be embodied as various means includingone or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signalprocessor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digitalsignal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-coreprocessors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or morecomputers, various other processing elements including integratedcircuits such as, for example, an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit) or FPGA (field programmable gate array), or some combinationthereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 25 as a singleprocessor, in some embodiments, processor 2502 comprises a plurality ofprocessors. The plurality of processors may be embodied on a singlecomputing device or may be distributed across a plurality of computingdevices collectively configured to function as circuitry 2500. Theplurality of processors may be in operative communication with eachother and may be collectively configured to perform one or morefunctionalities of circuitry 2500 as described herein. In an exampleembodiment, processor 2502 is configured to execute instructions storedin memory 2504 or otherwise accessible to processor 2502. Theseinstructions, when executed by processor 2502, may cause circuitry 2500to perform one or more of the functionalities of circuitry 2500 asdescribed herein.

Whether configured by hardware, firmware/software methods, or by acombination thereof, processor 2502 may comprise an entity capable ofperforming operations according to embodiments of the present inventionwhile configured accordingly. Thus, for example, when processor 2502 isembodied as an ASIC, FPGA or the like, processor 2502 may comprisespecifically configured hardware for conducting one or more operationsdescribed herein. As another example, when processor 2502 is embodied asan executor of instructions, such as may be stored in memory 2504, theinstructions may specifically configure processor 2502 to perform one ormore algorithms and operations described herein, such as those discussedin connection with FIGS. 1-5.

Memory 2504 may comprise, for example, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, or some combination thereof. Although illustrated in FIG. 25 asa single memory, memory 2504 may comprise a plurality of memorycomponents. The plurality of memory components may be embodied on asingle computing device or distributed across a plurality of computingdevices. In various embodiments, memory 2504 may comprise, for example,a hard disk, random access memory, cache memory, flash memory, a compactdisc read only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc read only memory(DVD-ROM), an optical disc, circuitry configured to store information,or some combination thereof. Memory 904 may be configured to storeinformation, data (including deal parameter data and/or analytics data),applications, instructions, or the like for enabling circuitry 2500 tocarry out various functions in accordance with example embodiments ofthe present invention. For example, in at least some embodiments, memory2504 is configured to buffer input data for processing by processor2502. Additionally or alternatively, in at least some embodiments,memory 2504 is configured to store program instructions for execution byprocessor 2502. Memory 2504 may store information in the form of staticand/or dynamic information. This stored information may be stored and/orused by circuitry 2500 during the course of performing itsfunctionalities.

Communications module 2506 may be embodied as any device or meansembodied in circuitry, hardware, a computer program product comprisingcomputer readable program instructions stored on a computer readablemedium (e.g., memory 2504) and executed by a processing device (e.g.,processor 2502), or a combination thereof that is configured to receiveand/or transmit data from/to another device, such as, for example, asecond circuitry 2500 and/or the like. In some embodiments,communications module 2506 (like other components discussed herein) canbe at least partially embodied as or otherwise controlled by processor2502. In this regard, communications module 2506 may be in communicationwith processor 2502, such as via a bus. Communications module 2506 mayinclude, for example, an antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, atransceiver, network interface card and/or supporting hardware and/orfirmware/software for enabling communications with another computingdevice. Communications module 2506 may be configured to receive and/ortransmit any data that may be stored by memory 2504 using any protocolthat may be used for communications between computing devices.Communications module 2506 may additionally or alternatively be incommunication with the memory 2504, input/output module 2508 and/or anyother component of circuitry 2500, such as via a bus.

Input/output module 2508 may be in communication with processor 2502 toreceive an indication of a user input and/or to provide an audible,visual, mechanical, or other output to a user (e.g., merchant and/orconsumer). Some example visual outputs that may be provided to a user bycircuitry 2500 are discussed in connection with FIGS. 6-23. As such,input/output module 2508 may include support, for example, for akeyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a display, a touch screen display, amicrophone, a speaker, a RFID reader, barcode reader, biometric scanner,and/or other input/output mechanisms. In embodiments wherein circuitry2500 is embodied as a server or database, aspects of input/output module2508 may be reduced as compared to embodiments where circuitry 2500 isimplemented as an end-user machine (e.g., consumer device and/ormerchant device) or other type of device designed for complex userinteractions. In some embodiments (like other components discussedherein), input/output module 2508 may even be eliminated from circuitry2500. Alternatively, such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 2500 isembodied as a server or database, at least some aspects of input/outputmodule 2508 may be embodied on an apparatus used by a user that is incommunication with circuitry 2500, such as for example, merchant device2410. Input/output module 2508 may be in communication with the memory2504, communications module 2506, and/or any other component(s), such asvia a bus. Although more than one input/output module and/or othercomponent can be included in circuitry 2500, only one is shown in FIG.25 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing (like the other componentsdiscussed herein).

Payment/redemption module 2510 may also or instead be included andconfigured to perform the functionality discussed herein related tofacilitating payment transactions and redemption of deal vouchersdiscussed above. In some embodiments, some or all of the functionalityfacilitating payment transactions and redemption of deal vouchers may beperformed by processor 2502. In this regard, the example processes andalgorithms discussed herein can be performed by at least one processor2502 and/or payment/redemption module 2510. For example, non-transitorycomputer readable storage media can be configured to store firmware, oneor more application programs, and/or other software, which includeinstructions and other computer-readable program code portions that canbe executed to control each processor (e.g., processor 2502 and/orpayment/redemption module 2510) of the components of system 2400 toimplement various operations, including the examples shown above. Assuch, a series of computer-readable program code portions are embodiedin one or more computer program products and can be used, with acomputing device, server, and/or other programmable apparatus, toproduce machine-implemented processes.

As will be appreciated, any such computer program instructions and/orother type of code may be loaded onto a computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus's circuitry to produce a machine, such that thecomputer, processor other programmable circuitry that execute the codeon the machine create the means for implementing various functions,including those described herein.

It is also noted that all or some of the information presented by theexample displays discussed herein can be based on data that is received,generated and/or maintained by one or more components of system 2400. Insome embodiments, one or more external systems (such as a remote cloudcomputing and/or data storage system) may also be leveraged to provideat least some of the functionality discussed herein.

FIGS. 26 and 27 provide some examples of data that may be stored in oneor databases to facilitate payment transactions and redemption of dealvouchers in accordance with some example embodiments discussed herein.It should be noted the data fields illustrated are exemplary and thatthe embodiments of the invention are not limited to the fieldsillustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27, and that the embodiments of theinvention may contain more or fewer fields than those illustrated.

As described above and as will be appreciated based on this disclosure,embodiments of the present invention may be configured as methods,mobile devices, backend network devices, and the like. Accordingly,embodiments may comprise various means including entirely of hardware orany combination of software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments maytake the form of a computer program product on at least onenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readableprogram instructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storagemedium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilizedincluding non-transitory hard disks, CD-ROMs, flash memory, opticalstorage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described above withreference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods,apparatuses, systems and computer program products. It will beunderstood that each block of the circuit diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the circuit diagrams andprocess flowcharts, respectively, can be implemented by various meansincluding computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, suchas processor 2502 and/or deal payment/redemption module 2510 discussedabove with reference to FIG. 25, to produce a machine, such that thecomputer program product includes the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus create a meansfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory 2504) that can direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufactureincluding computer-readable instructions for implementing the functiondiscussed herein. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions discussed herein.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and programinstruction means for performing the specified functions. It will alsobe understood that each block of the circuit diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the circuit diagrams andprocess flowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedcomputer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseembodiments of the invention pertain having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the inventionare not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and thatmodifications and other embodiments are intended to be included withinthe scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employedherein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and notfor purposes of limitation.

1.-24. (canceled)
 25. A method of securing a transaction by one or moreservers connected with a merchant system over a network, comprising:receiving payment transaction data indicative of a product from themerchant system via the network; receiving payment account identifierdata to be used for the transaction from the merchant system via thenetwork; retrieving voucher data indicative of a deal voucher based onthe payment account identifier data, wherein the deal voucher dataincludes associations of stored deal vouchers with stored paymentaccount identifier data that identify payment accounts used to purchasethe stored deal vouchers; preceding a completion of the transaction,determining that the payment account identifier is associated with apayment account used to purchase the deal voucher based on the voucherdata; and applying the deal voucher to the transaction.
 26. The methodof claim 25, further comprising: determining that the payment accountidentifier data was utilized in a purchase of a deal voucher that wasnot presented with the payment account identifier data earlier in theprocess and subsequently received without also receiving deal voucheridentifier data from the merchant system; wherein the retrieving of thevoucher data associated with the deal voucher based on the paymentaccount identifier data is performed in response to determining that thepayment account identifier was received without receiving deal voucheridentifier data.
 27. The method of claim 25, wherein applying the dealvoucher to the transaction comprises: in response to determining thatthe payment account identifier data is associated with the paymentaccount used to purchase the deal voucher, and by the one or moreservers: determining a current monetary value of the deal voucher;transmitting deal voucher data, including at least the current monetaryvalue of the deal voucher to the merchant system via the network; andprocessing the transaction using the payment account used to purchasethe deal voucher.
 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:determining whether the product is associated with a second dealvoucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by thepayment account identified by the payment account identifier data; inresponse to determining that the product is associated with the seconddeal voucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by thepayment account, transmitting an offer for the second deal voucher tothe merchant system; receiving an indication to purchase the second dealvoucher with the payment account identified by the payment accountidentifier; and in response to receiving the indication to purchase thesecond deal voucher, applying the second deal voucher to thetransaction.
 29. The method of claim 25, further comprising: receiving avoucher redeemed notification message from the merchant system, thevoucher redeemed notification message including voucher identifier data;retrieving the voucher data from a database based on the voucheridentifier data; and updating the voucher data to indicate redemption ofthe deal voucher.
 30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:retrieving the voucher data from a database based on the voucheridentifier data; and updating the voucher data to indicate redemption ofthe deal voucher
 31. The method of claim 25, wherein the payment accountidentifier data is associated with a payment account used to purchasethe deal voucher.